Alienware revamps their gaming notebook lineup

Alienware did promise something big for E3 this year, and they delivered by unveiling a refreshed range of gaming notebooks. Each new Alienware notebook features a HD matte display with a new keyboard and LED illuminated trackpad.

Alienware have crammed in Intel's latest fourth-generation Core processor, or "Haswell", as well as NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 700 series of GPU's and a minimum of 8GB of RAM across the board. They've also chosen a simpler naming structure, so welcome the new Alienware 14, Alienware 17 and Alienware 18. The numbers are of course, varying screen sizes.

The smallest of the bunch, Alienware 14, comes in at $1199 and includes the Intel Core i7-4700MQ processor, GeForce GT 750M GPU, 8GB of RAM, 750GB HDD, a slot-loading DVDRW and WLED HD 1366x768 display. The Alienware 17 includes the bigger display, the same Haswell processor, RAM, DVDRW and HDD but the better GTX 765M GPU and a WLED HD+ 1600x900 display and comes in at a slightly higher $1499.

Moving onto the Alienware 18, which is what we're all here for, right? The Alienware 18 has an 18-inch display, which is of the Full HD PLS variety, the Core i7-4700MQ, dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 768M GPU's, 8GB of RAM (what?), a 750GB HDD (no SSD, what is happening here Alienware) and a slot-loading DVDRW.

I'm disappointed across the board without a stock SSD in this day and age, and I'm truly scratching my head at the suits over at Alienware for not cramming at least a 240GB SSD into each of these and bumping the price up slightly. An SSD changes the entire system, and a "gaming laptop" without one doesn't feel as powerful. What are your thoughts on Alienware's new products?